Aspirations Leicestershire

Updated 20 March 2024

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection as carried out by 2 inspectors and an expert by experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Supported living. This service provides care and support to people living in 18 different supported living settings. These settings were a combination of separate flats and shared houses. Some people had a self-contained flat, whilst others had their own bedroom but shared facilities with other people. Each scheme is different with some having a separate bedroom for staff sleeping there over-night. People’s care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 6 staff members including the registered manager, operations director, team leaders and senior support workers. We spoke with 5 people who used the service and to 6 relatives. We reviewed a range of records. This included 4 people's care records and 2 medicines administration records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, were reviewed. We used the 'Quality of Life Tool' which is designed to support the corroboration of all sources of evidence gathered during inspection

Updated 20 March 2024

Aspirations Leicestershire is a supported living service providing personal care to adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care, the Care Quality Commission CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of the inspection 32 people were receiving support with personal care.

People's experience of using this service and what we found;

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support: The model of care maximised people’s choice, control and independence. The service promoted supported independent living. People were supported in their own homes, these were a combination of separate flats and shared houses. Some people had a self-contained flat, whilst others had their own bedroom but shared facilities with other people.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Right Care: Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. People had a structured lifestyle based on their choice and preferences. Staff were appropriately skilled and competent to meet people's needs and keep them safe. Staff knew and understood people's communication needs, and this supported positive respectful relationships and interactions. People's independence and abilities were promoted. People lived active lives and were supported to maintain relationships with friends and family.

Right Culture: The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives. People's wishes and needs were at the centre of everything. The provider, registered manager and staff were motivated to achieve good outcomes for people and were caring and compassionate. Systems and processes for monitoring and improving quality and safety were effective. The culture and values were based on people's views and priorities and were shared by people, staff and managers.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 8 March 2021).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Aspirations Leicestershire on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.